February 23, 2007	Friday	Safar 5, 1428

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LAHORE, Feb 22: Seven injured Pakistani passengers of the ill-fated Samjhota Express were brought here from New Delhi in a C-130 plane on Thursday.

Even relatives were not allowed to approach the victims who were transported to the Mayo Hospital in Rescue 1122 ambulances soon after their arrival at 9.40pm.

The condition of Ramesh Kumar and Shamim Muhammad was stated to be serious while those of Abdul Qayyum, Shakeel and his brother Nadeem, Qamaruddin and Ashok Kumar was termed stable.

Ramesh, 40, and Ashok, 21, are residents of Sialkot, Qamaruddin, 60, belongs to Multan, Abdul Qayyum, 56, and Shamim, 9, live in Karachi while Nadeem, 10, and Shakeel, 25, hail from Mirpurkhas.

Qamaruddin was accompanied by his better half, who escaped unhurt in the train fire.

Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi and Federal Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani inquired after the health of the victims.

Later, the chief minister told journalists that all the expenses on the treatment of the injured passengers would be borne by the Punjab government.

“The injured would be treated at the burn unit of Mayo Hospital and shifted to their homes only after recovery,” said Mr Pervaiz Elahi while terming the train fire tragic.

Mr Durrani said the whole nation was grieved over the Panipat tragedy. “All officials of the Pakistan government in India are in contact with one another for finding a clue to the people missing so far,” he said.

He expressed the hope that the Indian authorities would keep their Pakistani counterparts informed about every new finding of the train tragedy. He was also optimistic that the people involved in the gruesome act would soon be brought to book.

“At present, the focus should be on investigation... on efforts to nab the culprits instead of merely blaming anyone,” the minister said.

BODIES: Indian authorities handed over the bodies of seven more victims of Samjhota Express to their Pakistani counterparts at Wagah on Thursday.

Relatives of the victims were also present when Pakistan Rangers received the bodies at the Zero Point at around 7am. The bodies of Abdul Wahid (son of Abdul Razzaq), Saleem Khan (son of Wahid Khan), both of Karachi, Muhammad Azam (son of Muna Khan), Zareena Begum (wife of Muna Khan), Farzana (daughter), Jahan Ara (wife of Mubarak Ali) were taken to the old terminal of the Lahore Airport in ambulances from where a C-03 commercial flight took off for Karachi at 9am.

The body of Muhammad Rafique (s/o Umer Din) was sent to Multan in an ambulance provided by the Punjab government.

Indian authorities also handed over Rs50,000 for the families of each deceased with the assurance that the remaining amount of the compensation would be paid to them soon through the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Seven bodies were handed over to Pakistani authorities earlier on Thursday at 1.30am and were later airlifted by a C-130 aircraft to Karachi.